ACTION C.6 – Implementation and promotion of the non-consumptive use of brown bears
Ecotourism is increasingly providing important economic opportunities for local communities in brown bear core area and as such has a high potential for enhancing brown bear value for public appreciation and small-scale ecotourism. Moreover, it gives an opportunity to educate people about mechanisms behind human-bear conflicts and ways to reduce them. Bear watching is already taking place in Slovenia and Croatia but since it is not supervised or organized in a systematic way, it can cause even negative impacts on bears. For this reason, we need to develop and implement guidelines for responsible use of brown bears in ecotourism. The action is designed to directly address threats related to the low tolerance of bears by the local inhabitants of the core area; however, we expect that it will help raising public awareness about the bear conservation at the European level. As well as ecotourism also the use of “bear-friendly” sign gives additional symbolical value to bears and subconsciously influences public’s minds to think about the bear in a different way – as a useful tool for promotion. The use of such sign will be linked with correct preventive measures used in farming and in such a way promoting it. Use of similar signs is known to positively affect attitudes of local residents involved in farming and reduce human-bear conflicts.
Latest C.6 actions:
Event in Zagreb „Gorski kotar in metropolis“
„Gorski kotar in metropolis“ was held on April 16th, 2016 at main square bana Josipa Jelačića in Zagreb. LIFE DINALP [...]
Day of the Bear Ecotourism
The workshop „Day of the Bear Ecotourism“ was held on Saturday 19 March 2016 in Risnjak National Park in Crni [...]
Guidelines for responsible implemenation of bear related tourism are ready
We have prepared the Guidelines for responsible non-consumptive use of bears in tourism with the aim to introduce the concept [...]
You can now register your »Bear Friendly« products
Forms through which you can apply for »Bear friendly« label are now available on our project web site. The »Bear [...]
Bear Day
Saturday, 23st of January, we will organize the Bear Day - an educational seminar about non-consumptive use of bears for [...]
First bear friendly products are here
Recently, bear friendly label was developed, aimed for farmers, local companies and craftsmen contributing to coexistence between bears and humans [...]